SO LONG, DAVID MCCALLUM

Some of my earliest memories are of you and Robert Vaughn (as Illya Kuryakin and Napoleon Solo), beaming from my family's black-and-white set. That sealed the deal, making me one of your forever-fans. 

It wasn't only The Man From U.N.C.L.E. that charmed me, for I was as enamored by your titular effort on The Invisible Man, a fanciful, espionage update of the H.G. Wells' classic. 

You were also amazing in Frankenstein: The True Story, with a quirky reinterpretation of Henry Clerval that's impossible to forget. (In fact, Clerval may be your best performance, and that's saying a lot.) 

Long-running appearances on NCIS (as "Ducky" Mallard), Colditz, Trainor, Sapphire and Steel, Mother Love and The Education of Max Brickford only entrenched you further in the pop-cultural view, as did your guest spots on The Outer Limits (with the inarguable classics, "The Sixth Finger" and "The Form of Things Unknown"); The Six Million Dollar Man; Babylon 5; seaQuest DSV; Team Knight Rider; Jeremiah; Ben 10 (via your smooth, recurring voice); Monsters; Rod Serling's Night Gallery; Alfred Hitchcock Presents; Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense; Perry Mason; Matlock; Murder, She Wrote; McCloud; Father Downing Mysteries; Deadline; The Master; Strike Force; JAG; The A-Team; Mr. and Mrs. Smith; Sir Francis Drake; Profiles in Courage; Sex and the City; Please Don't Eat the Daisies; Hullaballoo (as special host) and Ancient Prophesies (as its distinguished narrator). 

On the feature stretch, you also knocked it out of the park, whether your scenes were hefty or compact: She Waits; Night of the Lepus; The Haunting of Morella; The Watcher in the Woods '80; The Wind; Around the World Under the Sea; Hauser's Memory; A Night to Remember; The Great Escape; The Greatest Story Ever Told; Billy Budd; Sol Madrid (The Heroin Gang); King Solomon's Treasure; The Kingfisher Caper (Diamond Hunters); The Man Who Lived at the Ritz; The Long and the Short and the Tall; Hell Drivers; Robbery Under Arms; Violent Playground; Jungle Street (Jungle Street Girls); These Dangerous Years (Dangerous Youth); Rascal; Healer; Freud: The Secret Passion; The Mosquito Squadron; The Ravine; Dogs; Three Bites of the Apple; Terminal Choice; Fatal Inheritance; Dirty Weekend; Hear My Song; The Big T.N.T. Show (where you showed off your skillful orchestrations, for you were, after all, an accomplished musician/composer) ... and per your refined tonality in the DC/WB, animated features (and their related series), Wonder Woman; Batman: Gotham Knight; Son of Batman; and Batman vs Robin (as Alfred Pennyworth for those latter three). 

My respect for you is infinite, Mr. McCallum, and an endless queue of others feel the same way, as will future generations who discover your work. Indeed, you are one of the cinematic eternals. (Oh, and if you could do me a favor, say hello to good ol' Robert for me.)